North Korea’s Kim Jong Un told Vladimir Putin that Pyongyang will expand and deepen cooperation with Russia in a comprehensive, friendship-based alliance, and he expressed confidence in Russia’s victory in its so-called sacred war. The remarks underscore closer bilateral ties, continuing military cooperation, and a shared stance amid past cooperation and mutual defense pacts, following Kim’s messages to Xi Jinping as well.
President Trump claimed Kyiv and Moscow agreed to pause strikes on energy targets to ease rising fuel prices tied to the Ukraine and Iran wars, though Zelenskyy says no formal deal has been confirmed. Experts note that Iran-related tensions and the Strait of Hormuz have driven energy shocks more than the Ukraine conflict, while Kyiv signals willingness to halt energy strikes if a real pause with Russia is secured. The remarks surface as fuel costs become a political issue ahead of elections.
A Russia sanctions bill cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. House, signaling momentum as lawmakers prepare for subsequent steps and ongoing live updates.
A Cuban-born salsa instructor living in Petrozavodsk, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, is identified by Deutsche Welle and partners as the alleged recruiter behind a disposable-agent network that sought to carry out arson and sabotage across at least four EU countries in 2024, via Telegram ads recruiting Latin Americans and others with military or logistical experience. Recruits were given tasks such as photographing sites and planning attacks; one Colombian recruit, Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, was sentenced in Romania to six years for attempted sabotage after being directed to target a waste facility and an oil well. At least a dozen people were recruited, with several detained and two already serving six-to-eight-year sentences; Lithuanian prosecutors publicly linked the plots to Russian military intelligence, and Lithuanian authorities issued an international wanted notice for Romagoza, who teaches dance in Russia and obtained citizenship in 2022. It remains unclear whether he continued recruiting after 2024, but authorities say suspected Russian sabotage activity in Europe has continued, with ongoing investigations across EU countries.
Bettina Trump says Umar Kremlev, a Putin ally who runs the International Boxing Association, helped fund two nights of the couple’s three‑day Bahamas wedding after ProPublica reported the expenses; while Trump Jr. is a private citizen, ethics groups say accepting lavish gifts from a foreign-linked figure near the president’s circle creates an appearance of a conflict of interest and underscores concerns about foreign influence.
Russia is preparing final tests of a new ballistic missile with a range up to 800 km that could feature maneuverability or terminal end‑game capabilities, potentially complicating Ukraine’s air defenses; analysts say such traits would require more sophisticated interceptors and could signal a shift in Moscow’s missile program, with live‑fire testing possibly aimed at western Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to halt strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure, saying Ukraine won’t stop its attacks unless Russia genuinely commits to a long-term, verifiable ceasefire and reciprocal restraint, not a short-term arrangement tied to political timelines.
Vanessa Trump asserts that a Russian oligarch partially financed her and Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding, a detail that adds to ongoing scrutiny of the Trump family's links to Russia and the 2016 campaign, including the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine would halt attacks on Russian energy targets if Moscow agrees to the same, but Kyiv doubts Russia would honor any deal; Trump claimed both sides have agreed, a claim not confirmed by the White House; Ukraine continues strikes on oil infrastructure as energy prices rise globally amid the war and related tensions.
Ukrainian forces have eliminated the Russian salient north of Lyman, disrupting Moscow’s plan to encircle the Fortress Belt in Donetsk and prompting a strategic reassessment while Kyiv presses counteroffensives elsewhere; Russia reportedly seeks up to 800,000 new troops, but faces mobilization and integration challenges. Zelensky pursues further peace talks, and long‑range strikes plus Western sanctions continue to hobble Russia’s oil sector. Amid ongoing Russian missile and drone campaigns, Ukrainian defenses downed many incoming threats, with casualties and damage reported across multiple oblasts as frontlines remain fluid.
Ukraine’s 23-foot Sargan-3000 drone boat, armed with a .50-cal via a Protector remote turret, reportedly sank a Russian drone boat in the Black Sea after firing at its antennas from about 3,300 feet—an unmanned-on-unmanned kill that signals a shift in drone warfare at sea; several specifications remain unconfirmed.
German federal prosecutors charged a German-Ukrainian woman in Berlin with acting for Russian intelligence, alleging she worked with a Russian embassy officer since 2023, helped him attend events (sometimes under a false name), and recruited contacts from Germany’s Defense Ministry and defense industry; she was arrested in January and the charges were filed on Sept. 6, with her remaining in pretrial detention.
Trump, speaking at a golf event in Ireland, urged Zelenskyy to halt attacks on Russian diesel facilities, arguing they fuel a global shortage; Ukraine says energy infrastructure targets are legitimate military actions, while analysts say Russia’s refinery damage and export cuts—along with Middle East tensions—are driving higher diesel prices worldwide, including in the US, beyond Ukraine’s strikes.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told AFP that NATO would defeat Russia quickly if Moscow attacked, citing Europe’s air power superiority (about 2,500 aircraft) and the ability to target Russia’s refining capacity, potentially halving it in six weeks. He argued NATO could prevail even without the US and urged deterring Putin with costly consequences, noting Baltic and Nordic budgets exceed Russia’s. The comments came at the Kyiv-based Yalta European Strategy forum amid heightened security near Poland after Russian strikes on Ukraine.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski urged high‑intensity NATO drills along the Kaliningrad border to exploit Moscow’s local troop depletion and force a redeployment away from Ukraine, arguing Kaliningrad is nearly stripped of conventional forces and that NATO should inject strategic unpredictability without seizing the enclave.
